"Source for DVD tray drive belt?"

In the last 6 months I've had to toss 3 different CD-RW/DVD-RW drives from various machines because the belt that opens and closes the tray broke. I'm getting awfully tired of having to buy brand new hardware because of the failure of a $0.03 part!!!

I'm perfectly willing and able to tear into the guts of the drive (it's out of warranty anyway...by one month...grrrr!) to replace the belt, but I've searched high and low and nobody advertises that they sell replacement parts, only whole drives. Do any of you all have a good sources for a replacement belt?

Our shop has worked on over 8,000 PC's and have never seen this problem with an optical drive. In our experience, this problem is too rare for anybody to stock parts. There are too many other things that go bad due to the fragility of the drives. With 85 different companies making and selling optical drives, there are too many possibilities, and with tech service fees being what they are, there is no way for repair shops to make money on them.

Do you live in a specially destructive climate, or have a computer environment that creates condictions which make a belt harden, shrink, or slip?

I would go out to Wal-Mart and buy either an LG or LiteOn drive for $19 to $29, install it, and worry no more.

Go for a slot load drive instead? Way back when Pioneer produced slot load dvd roms, no try with belts to break. Now Plextor has copied the idea and makes a slot load dvd burner. Just an idea if you live in somewhere where belts break often.

Interesting....the latest drive I'm trying to fix IS an HP offering. And I do live a destructive climate: the California high desert with lots of dust and very low humidity. I would consider just biting the bullet and purchasing yet another new drive if I was replacing an el-cheapo, but the busted one I've got is a LightScribe DVD RW- you don't just walk into Wal-Mart and plunk down $29.99 for a new one of those.

Plus, it just chaps the hide of the Cheap Bastard within me to have to replace a fully functional device because of what is essentially a glorified rubber band. Maybe I'll just grab the rubber band off of tonight's newspaper - the price is right, and after all, I can't break a drive that's already broken, can I?

The cause of my belts breaking is a low level ozone or 03 AIR PURIFIER.aBOUT EVERY 3 TO 6 MONTHS I HAVE TO REPLACE MY BURNER DUE TO LIKE THE GUY ABOVE SAID A.03 cent rubber BELT GO TO: band.http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1163
This site has the Samsung SW-240 CD/RW BURNER WITH GEARED TRAY TO ELIMINATE THE BELTS ! But as of yet I haven't found one that is a DVD/BURNER.Hope this helps!Steve

Thanks to Steve Fagel for his post, my belts have been breaking in my DVD player and he commented that ozone air purifiers can cause premature belt failure. I just happen to have a purifier right in my living room where the player is located. I was able to buy belts for my Samsung DVD player at www.partstore.com for 95 cents each. I'm sure they have something that would work in computer drives. Shipping was $7.95, but at 95 cents each what the heck. It is still cheaper than buying a drive. Plus you can just buy 4 or 5 belts to keep around.

I am a new member and hope no one minds my 2 cents worth. I have replaced nearly 50 drive belts in vcrs,dvd players and a few in some old 3.5 floppys. I retired from my own small engine shop so I like puttering with things. I also don't throw anything out. Anyway, go to your local hardware and get an O ring slightly smaller than your old one. Works great. And you aren't spending $7 or $8 shipping. Have a great day.

I've got a source, finally. Try www.globalsemi.com ,then on-line catalogue, then drive belts. Typically the belt you want will be listed under "tiny" by circumference measured in centimeters (2.54cm = 1 inch" An example is last year's LG DVDRW Sata model GH20NS10 used part number SBS-3.2.

I think Denny's got the right idea. I just replaced the tray belt in my Samsung SW-240 CD-Burner with an O-ring and it works great. A 5 cent part and a 5 minute fix!

I am really tired of hearing people say to throw away an otherwise good optical drive when many times there is a quick repair. I know replacement drives are inexpensive but think about the environment. It’s like replacing your computer because the software is corrupted.

Drive tray repairs are frustrating because usually the drive is working, it just won't eject (or sometimes stay closed). I've taken many optical drives apart and there are many different variations in drive tray design. I've found that if you take the time to figure out how it works and exactly what's wrong, most are easily repaired.

I wish we had a site that documented the various fixes. Replacing the belt is the easiest fix of all. Thanks for the tip Denny!

I tried several different O-rings, but they were all too big or too small or too tight or something. Someone on TechLore suggested cutting the ring off of a balloon. IT WORKED PERFECTLY! And it was FREE! I saved a $100 DVD-R/W drive with a balloon. I've got another DVD drive that's starting to fail. I'm going to go get more balloons. This is great!

Buy a Sony. Last time I looked they had no belt but were worm drive for the door. I have one that is 8 years old. Quite being cheap. You get what you pay for most of the time. Cheap product, cheaply made, play and throw away.

Measure the old broken belt (diameter and length, deducting a small amount for stretch). Go to russellind.com. Russell Industries bought the old Projector Recorder Belt (PRB) Company. They have a listing of every belt for any device ever made. Pick out yours from the chart. There is a minimum order, but you will get the right part.